Soif Releases Thanksgiving Six-Pack of Wine Curated to Pair

Almost as good as having your own private wine expert is this very timely curation of wines from the oenologists at Soif. Just in time to pair with your Thanksgiving meal is a specially-selected six-pack of wines for your holiday table. And itโ€™s available right this very minute through Nov. 21 (better known as the day before Thanksgiving).

Soif Wine Curator Jon Bates and Retail Shop Manager Alexis Carr both had a hand in this rather exciting suite of wines from French and Italian producers. Reds, whites, plus a special sparkling red wine. The six-pack has been priced at $100, 20 percent off the individual retail prices. Sweet. โ€œWe thought about every part of the meal when putting this six-pack together,โ€ says Bates, who believes that Thanksgiving celebration actually starts with the appetizers. โ€œWe have chosen wines to pair all the way through dessert, but also made sure we included something for everyone to enjoy.โ€ย 

So hereโ€™s the menu of special Soif wines: To start:ย 2015ย Jean-Franรงois Mรฉrieauย Fleuve Blancย Chenin Blancโ€”Loire Valley; 2017ย Chรขteau Graville-Lacosteย Graves Blancย Sรฉmillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscadelleโ€”Bordeaux; and NVย Barboliniย Lambrusco di Sorbaraย Lambruscoโ€”Emilia-Romagna, Italy.ย 

Then for the turkey and sides: 2015ย Domaine Camus-Bruchon & Filsย Bourgogne Rougeย Pinot Noirย from Burgundy, and aย 2015ย Domaine du Penloisย โ€Sous lโ€™aile du Moulinโ€ Moulin-ร -Ventย Gamay, Beaujolais.

To join dessert:ย the Soif team suggests a 2016ย Domaine de la Pigeadeย Muscat de Beaumes de Veniseย Musca from Franceโ€™s Rhone Valley. The Thanksgiving six-packs are available for purchase at Soif (105 Walnut Ave.) in downtown Santa Cruz. The shop is open Monday from 5-8 p.m., Tuesday-Thursday from noon-8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from noon-9 p.m.ย The shop will be closed on Thanksgiving Day.

More information soifwine.com, or call the wine shop at 423-2020.

Worst Product of the Week

For $5.99 you can stuff a mattress or create your own bullet-proof vest simply by using the contents of one package of Food for Life Gluten-Free Multi-Seed English Muffins.

The word โ€œinedibleโ€ doesnโ€™t do justice to the shocking toughness and blandness of these $1-a-piece miscreants. Incapable of being toastedโ€”after three passes through my toaster the product remained both tough and untoastedโ€”these muffins defy logic as well as good taste. These things will take out an entire row of teeth if youโ€™re not careful. The only reason I purchased this over-priced package of oral outrageousness was because two of my favorite stores were out of the superior and delicious Canyon Bakehouse Gluten-Free Multi-grain English Muffins. So I thought, hey, how much different could these Food for Life muffins be? Night and day, thatโ€™s how different. Caveat emptor!

Pumpkin Pie Fieldwork: Part II

From Kellyโ€™s Bakery comes this all-star slice of pumpkin pie ($5 with a generous top-knot of real whipped cream). If this pie were an NBA player it would be the lovechild of Steph Curry and LeBron James. Firm filling with terrific spice balance, extra generosity in spicing spicesโ€”cinnamon, allspice, clovesโ€”so that you know youโ€™re having a three-dimensional pumpkin pie experience. The crust is both delicious and tender. I would have been smug and happy to have baked this pie. Just a few more to go!

Avanti Sold!

Paul Geise confirmed the rumor that Westside landmark Ristorante Avanti has indeed been sold.

Paul and Cindy Geise plan to stay onsite until the end of the year while liquor license and escrow details are fine-tuned. โ€œThirty-one years with this restaurant. Itโ€™s bittersweet,โ€ admits the longtime restaurateur, who says Avanti will soon have new local owners.

Majesty: A New Queer Dance Party and Drag Show at Motion Pacific

The dance floor is dark, but packed with gyrating bodies. The DJ spins the latest Cardi B jam, and a flurry of sparkles, big hair and outlandish outfits whirl around the room. Suddenly, the music stops and the dance floor freezes. A single spotlight shines down upon a fabulously dressed drag queen. She vogues down the sea of people, as claps and shouts rise up from the audience. With a snap of her wrist, the party music flips back on and feet are electrified once more.

No, this isnโ€™t San Francisco. This is the newly established drag extravaganza Majesty, right here in Santa Cruz.

Held at the Motion Pacific dance studio, this LGBTQ+ event is a bi-monthly party thatโ€™s half dance club, half drag showโ€”and 100 percent over-the-top extraordinary. The founders of Majesty want to be clear that it isnโ€™t performance art or burlesque or any of the genres that are more typically seen in Santa Cruz.

โ€œItโ€™s a drag show!โ€ exclaims Motion Pacific teacher and one of Majestyโ€™s organizers, Micha Hogan. โ€œI love bringing in other elements, like [in September] we had a seasoned burlesque performer do a risque, witchy number. However, it was still in the realm of drag because everything from the clothes to the make-up was hyper-feminine.โ€ He takes a sip of coffee, his perfectly manicured and painted nails shining prominently, before adding โ€œCampy is the word.โ€

Fans of RuPaulโ€™s Drag Race, John Waters films, Andy Warhol, and everything between will tell you the best thing about camp art is how deliciously over-the-top it can be. Sometimes gaudy, often tacky, but always amazing, camp is outrageously larger-than-life. Itโ€™s too extravagant to be born into the world; instead, the human imagination unabashadley wills it into an outlandish existence.

Majesty originally started as a one-time event to โ€œsee what it could be,โ€ says Hogan. Their first installment in July, called Midsummer Queerโ€™s Dream, blew away everyoneโ€™s expectations. Actually, they didnโ€™t know what to expect, but definitely didnโ€™t expect seeing the entire bottom floor dance studio packed to the rim. ย 

โ€œIt was insane!โ€ Hogan says with disbelief. โ€œWe just had this idea for it and it was met so well by the community that it blew up.โ€

โ€œIt truly surprised me,โ€ Motion Pacific owner and Director Abra Allan tells GT. โ€œNot only the level of talent brought by the performers, but the immediate camaraderie and overwhelming gratitude present for having a fun and safe space. You can expect to dance your ass off and be endlessly entertained.โ€

Hogan thinks one of the reasons for the popularity is the lack of space for the LGBTQ+ community in Santa Cruz. Of course, Santa Cruz takes pride in being a progressive and safe city for everyone. However, spaces for historically marginalized cultures like the LGBTQ+ community are sometimes lost in the inclusiveness. Spaces like Majesty are important for the communityโ€™s cultural growth and evolution.

When Club Dakota closed its doors in 2008, Santa Cruz lost its last identifiably gay club. While Hogan recognizes there are monthly queer events around townโ€”like Queer Bingo at the Poet and Patriotโ€”and even one-off queer dance nights at places like the Blue Lagoon, he hopes Majesty can become something more.

โ€œQueer people can go to any club in town and feel accepted,โ€ he explains. โ€œBut thereโ€™s no night just for us. No place that is ours. That was the original intent: to get everyone together in one place.โ€

After the idea was brought to Allan, she made sure Hogan and Wiley took the reigns in shaping how the night would look and feel. โ€œFirst, they are both incredible artists and people,โ€ she says. โ€œSecond, they are both queer-identifying which, I feel, is very important for the people active in creating a vision and bringing this event to the community.โ€

While Midsummer Queerโ€™s Dream was themed, organizers decided to ditch the themes and rename the event Majesty. Hogan says it was chosen for the power it holds, a power that everyone performingโ€”and attendingโ€”should embrace.

โ€œWe decided themes would limit what people thought they could do,โ€ he admits. โ€œWe want people to be their authentic selves and explore that.โ€

This month, attendees will have the privilege and pleasure to be slayed by Katalina Zambrano and Gigi Banks, as well as by Majestyโ€™s first two drag kings, Richard Dick Moneybags and Tyson Check-In. As with the previous two events, Hogan, who performs under the name Micha and teaches weekly hip-hop and heel work classes at Motion Pacific, will be โ€œwerkingโ€ it on floor as well.

Majesty is proudly open to anyone 18 or older, they will have some adult beverages for anyone of legal drinking age, with valid identification. Allan tells GT there will be a $10 to $30 sliding scale donation and donations support the Santa Cruz Diversity Center Youth Program. Allen says that nobody will be turned away for lack of funds.

โ€œWe want this space to be available to everyone who wants to be there,โ€ she writes.

Majestyโ€”A Queer Dance Party and Drag Show is Saturday, Nov. 17. 7:30-10:30 p.m. Motion Pacific Dance Studio, 131 Front St. E., Santa Cruz. ย $10-$30. 457-1616.

Sitar Master Ashwin Batish at UCSC

At first, it sounds like one of those weirdly random food combinations that preteens without adult supervision experiment with at home (bananas and taco sauce?). Last summer, 1980s hitmakers Violent Femmes (โ€œBlister in the Sunโ€) shared a stage with Indian-American sitar master Ashwin Batish.

Turns out, this pairing was anything but random. The punk-pop trio from Wisconsin and the sitarist from Santa Cruz have been occasionally performing together for decades. The unlikely collaboration is a vestige of one of those largely forgotten and bizarrely inspired impromptu jams that pop up throughout modern music history.

In 1991, at the New Jazz Festival in Moers, Germany, madly adventurous avant-garde guitarist Eugene Chadbourne convened a supergroup featuring jazz banjo giant Tony Trischka and Jimmy Carl Black, famed drummer for Frank Zappaโ€™s Mothers of Invention. Among the many others recruited for the band to be known as โ€œThe Daffy Duck Dozenโ€ was Violent Femmes bass player Brian Ritchie and sitarist Batish. The two men enjoyed improvising together on stage and struck up a friendship.

Jamming with the Violent Femmes whenever the band comes to the Bay Area isnโ€™t merely incidental for the 67-year-old Batish. It is at the core of the manโ€™s nearly five-decade career bridging East and West with a specific mission to push Indian classical music further down to the path to evolution.

Few musicians are more comfortable straddling cultural traditions than Batish, who is both a lifelong student of the complexities of the Indian raga system of music, and a free-wheeling maverick merrily looking for collaboration and influence in Western styles wherever he can find them.

Last January, Batish was given an opportunity to complete a circle when he was invited to teach at UCSC, which was what brought his family to the U.S. to begin with almost 50 years ago. He has been teaching a course in Indian percussion in classes that contain up to 50 general-ed students. The tabla is a big focus, but the class features several other Indian percussive instruments, including the dholak, the mridagam and manjeera. โ€œI tell my students โ€˜select the thing that you like, and next week, weโ€™re going to switch.โ€™โ€

On Nov. 19, many of Batishโ€™s UCSC students will come together for a free concert at UCSCโ€™s Music Recital Hall. And in March 2019, at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Batish himself and his bandโ€”which often includes several family membersโ€”will again showcase his adventurous musical style that has led him to be comfortably both a traditionalist and a maverickโ€”in his case, a contradiction contained in the label โ€œIndian-American.โ€

Batishโ€™s son Keshav Batish is also now a UCSC student and an accomplished drummer in his own right. He has been working as his fatherโ€™s teaching assistant (โ€œKeshav has been taking my class since he was born,โ€ Ashwin joked). His daughter Mohini, who is also a musician, has just graduated high school and is on her way to UCSC as well.

Batish likes to joke that he was born in Santa Cruz; and heโ€™s not lyingโ€”the punch line is that heโ€™s referring to a district, often spelled โ€œSantacruz,โ€ in Mumbai (now the official name of the city called Bombay when Batish was born). When S.D. Batish arrived in Santa Cruz, no one expected him to stay there for decades, least of all his son.

โ€œOnce youโ€™re here, thereโ€™s just some kind of vibe that you really donโ€™t want to move from here. The thing about this place. I can be myself over here,โ€ he says. โ€œI can do whatever I want. Thatโ€™s a very important thing.โ€

The Eurasian Ensemble, the Mariachi Ensemble and the Indian Music & Percussion Ensemble will perform Monday, Nov. 19, at the Music Recital Hall at UC Santa Cruz beginning at 7:30 p.m. Free. More information at facebook.com/sitarpower.

Protest Planned as City Shutters Homeless Camp, Fences Parks

With less than three weeks until the plannedย shutdown of a city-sanctioned homeless camp and the ongoing closure of two city parks, a Nov. 15 protest will aim to highlight โ€œthe human right to sleepโ€ with a group sleepout.

Though Santa Cruz officials have framed the park closures as routine maintenance, a flier posted on an orange traffic sign at San Lorenzo Park the week of Nov. 5 read โ€œPark closed until further notice.โ€ In addition to โ€œfocused maintenance,โ€ the form attributed the closure to โ€œpublic safety.โ€

โ€œIt seems obvious to me that theyโ€™re closing the parks to keep homeless people out,โ€ says former Santa Cruz City Councilmember Micah Posner. โ€œI donโ€™t think thatโ€™s what public safety is, but itโ€™s what it means in the city government: Donโ€™t let the homeless in there, because middle class people are afraid of them.โ€

An Oct. 22 City of Santa Cruz press release asserted that the shutdown will be timed to coincide with the scheduled opening of a seasonal indoor winter shelter at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) 7263 post in Live Oak. What the city didnโ€™t announce at the time was that it would also be closing two parks, San Lorenzo and Grant Street, where homeless people have in the past been known to bide time during the day or sleep at night.

City Manager Martรญn Bernal told the Sentinel after a contentious City Council meeting late last month that the timing with the park closure was coincidental and due to routine maintenance. โ€œThis is the kind of interim period that allows us to do the maintenance before the winter storms start,โ€ Bernal said. โ€œThatโ€™s another rationale for the timingโ€”itโ€™s that window of opportunity that we have.โ€

For the Thursday protest, slated to start at 4 p.m. outside the Santa Cruz downtown post office, activist Keith McHenry has called for others to bring tents, blankets, sleeping bags and tarps to sleep out and help establish a new โ€œsafe campโ€ for those with nowhere to go.

โ€œThe city plans to close its only legal campground just before the winter,โ€ wrote McHenry, a co-founder of Food Not Bombs. โ€œConcurrently, it has fenced off the nearest parks and bathrooms indefinitely. People may die as a result.โ€

Jacob Pierce contributed reporting.

Rob Breznyโ€™s Astrology Nov. 14-20

Free will astrology for the week of Nov. 14, 2018

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Interior designer Dorothy Draper said she wished there were a single word that meant โ€œexciting, frightfully important, irreplaceable, deeply satisfying, basic, and thrilling, all at once.โ€ I wonder if such a word exists in the Chamicuro language spoken by a few Peruvians or the Sarsi tongue spoken by the Tsuu Tโ€™ina tribe in Alberta, Canada. In any case, Iโ€™m pleased to report that for the next few weeks, many of you Aries people will embody and express that rich blend of qualities. I have coined a new word to capture it: tremblissimo.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): According to my astrological intuition, youโ€™re entering a phase when you will derive special benefit from these five observations by poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau. 1. โ€œThere are truths that you can only say after having won the right to say them.โ€ 2. โ€œTrue realism consists in revealing the surprising things that habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing.โ€ 3. โ€œWhat the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you.โ€ 4. โ€œYou should always talk well about yourself! The word spreads around, and in the end, no one remembers where it started.โ€ 5. โ€œWe shelter an angel within us. We must be the guardians of that angel.โ€

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Adolescence used to be defined as a phase that lasted from ages 13 to 19. But scientists writing in the journal The Lancet say that in modern culture, the current span is from ages 10 to 24. Puberty comes earlier now, in part because of shifts in eating habits and exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. At the same time, people hold onto their youth longer because they wait a while before diving into events associated with the initiation into adulthood, like getting married, finishing education, and having children. Even if youโ€™re well past 24, Gemini, I suggest you revisit and reignite your juvenile stage in the coming weeks. You need to reconnect with your wild innocence. Youโ€™ll benefit from immersing yourself in memories of coming of age. Be 17 or 18 again, but this time armed with all you have learned since.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian baseball pitcher Satchel Paige had a colorful career characterized by creative showmanship. On some occasions, he commanded his infielders to sit down and loll on the grass behind him, whereupon he struck out three batters in a rowโ€”ensuring no balls were hit to the spots vacated by his teammates. Paigeโ€™s success came in part because of his wide variety of tricky pitches, described by author Buck Oโ€™Neil as โ€œthe bat-dodger, the two-hump blooper, the four-day creeper, the dipsy-do, the Little Tom, the Long Tom, the bee ball, the wobbly ball, the hurry-up ball and the nothinโ€™ ball.โ€ I bring this to your attention, Cancerian, because now is an excellent time for you to amp up your charisma and use all your tricky pitches.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): โ€œEveryone tells a story about themselves inside their own head,โ€ writes fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss. โ€œAlways. All the time. We build ourselves out of that story.โ€ So whatโ€™s your story, Leo? The imminent future will be an excellent time to get clear about the dramatic narrative you weave. Be especially alert for demoralizing elements in your tale that may not in fact be true, and that therefore you should purge. I think youโ€™ll be able to draw on extra willpower and creative flair if you make an effort to reframe the story you tell yourself so that itโ€™s more accurate and uplifting.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In describing a man she fell in love with, author Elizabeth Gilbert wrote that he was both โ€œcatnip and kryptonite to me.โ€ If youโ€™ve spent time around cats, you understand that catnip can be irresistible to them. As for kryptonite: itโ€™s the one substance that weakens the fictional superhero Superman. Is there anything in your life that resembles Gilbertโ€™s paramour? A place or situation or activity or person thatโ€™s both catnip and kryptonite? I suspect you now have more ability than usual to neutralize its obsessive and debilitating effects on you. That could empower you to make a good decision about the relationship youโ€™ll have with it in the future.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): โ€œI had to learn very early not to limit myself due to othersโ€™ limited imaginations,โ€ testifies Libran astronaut Mae Jemison. She adds, โ€œI have learned these days never to limit anyone else due to my own limited imagination.โ€ Are those projects on your radar, Libra? I hope so. You now have extra power to resist being shrunk or hobbled by othersโ€™ images of you. You also have extra power to help your friends and loved ones grow and thrive as you expand your images of them.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The U.S. is the worldโ€™s top exporter of food. In second place is the Netherlands, which has 0.4 percent as much land as the U.S. How do Dutch farmers accomplish this miraculous feat? In part because of their massive greenhouses, which occupy vast areas of non-urbanized space. Another key factor is their unprecedented productivity, which dovetails with a commitment to maximum sustainability. For instance, they produce 20 tons of potatoes per acre, compared with the global average of nine. And they do it using less water and pesticides. In my long-term outlook for you Scorpios, I see you as having a metaphorical similarity to Dutch farmers. During the next 12 months, you have the potential to make huge impacts with your focused and efficient efforts.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): โ€œThe world is like a dropped pie most of the time,โ€ writes author Elizabeth Gilbert. โ€œDonโ€™t kill yourself trying to put it back together. Just grab a fork and eat some of it off the floor. Then carry on.โ€ From what I can tell about the state of your life, Sagittarius, the metaphorical pie has indeed fallen onto the metaphorical floor. But it hasnโ€™t been there so long that it has spoiled. And the floor is fairly clean, so the pie wonโ€™t make you sick if you eat it. My advice is to sit down on the floor and eat as much as you want. Then carry on.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Novelist Anita Desai writes, โ€œIsnโ€™t it strange how life wonโ€™t flow, like a river, but moves in jumps, as if it were held back by locks that are opened now and then to let it jump forward in a kind of flood?โ€ I bring this to your attention, Capricorn, because I suspect that the locks she refers to will soon open for you. Events may not exactly flow like a flood, but Iโ€™m guessing they will at least surge and billow and gush. That could turn out to be nerve-racking and strenuous, or else fun and interesting. Which way it goes will depend on your receptivity to transformation.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): โ€œMiracles come to those who risk defeat in seeking them,โ€ writes author Mark Helprin. โ€œThey come to those who have exhausted themselves completely in a struggle to accomplish the impossible.โ€ Those descriptions could fit you well in the coming weeks, but with one caveat. Youโ€™ll have no need to take on the melodramatic, almost desperate mood Helprin seems to imply is essential. Just the opposite, in fact. Yes, risk defeat and be willing to exhaust yourself in the struggle to accomplish the impossible; but do so in a spirit of exuberance, motivated by the urge to play.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): โ€œNever invoke the gods unless you really want them to appear,โ€ warned author G. K. Chesterton. โ€œIt annoys them very much.โ€ My teachers have offered me related advice. Donโ€™t ask the gods to intervene, they say, until you have done all you can through your own efforts. Furthermore, donโ€™t ask the gods for help unless you are prepared to accept their help if itโ€™s different from what you thought it should be. I bring these considerations to your attention, Pisces, because you currently meet all these requirements. So I say go right ahead and seek the godsโ€™ input and assistance.

Homework: What do you want to be when you grow up? Testify at Freewillastrology.com.

Film Review: Bohemian Rhapsody

Movie biographies are tricky. How do you restructure messy life into a coherent narrative? Which incidents should be left in, discarded, or completely reimagined for the sake of story? But when the subject is the innovative rock group Queen, thereโ€™s one thing we expect absolutelyโ€”the soundtrack is going to be killer.

Fortunately, for the surviving members of Queen, the legacy of the legendary Freddie Mercury, and especially the audience, the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody is more than just great music. From the opening 20th Century Fox fanfare scorched out of an electric guitar to the ecstatic grand finale of โ€œWe Are The Championsโ€ live onstage, this is a joyride for Queen fans.

Directed by Bryan Singer (he was replaced by Dexter Fletcher toward the end of production, but retains the credit), the movie falls into some of the pitfalls of telescoping events to fit the format. But it heroically depicts the Queen era (late โ€™70s-early โ€™80s), and the bandโ€™s phenomenal creative energy and output.

Central is the dynamic performance of Rami Malek (TVโ€™s Mr. Robot) as Freddie Mercury. Speculation on who would play Freddie haunted this project for years, but in Malek, the filmmakers found an actor unorthodox enough to embody the singerโ€™s outsider persona, yet soulful enough to engage us in Freddieโ€™s lifelong quest to become himself. Did I mention he does his own singing?

Malek also wears prosthetic teeth to replicate Mercuryโ€™s famous overbite. Itโ€™s a little awkward to watch at first, as the actor keeps pursing his lips over them, as if heโ€™s trying too hard to mimic his subject. But Malek incorporates this trademark tic of Mercuryโ€™s into the truth of his performance.

The movie begins and ends with the Live Aid charity concert of 1985, where Queen faced a jam-packed Wembley Stadium in London and a live global audience to deliver a 20-minute set that literally rocked the world. In between, the story sticks to the chronology of Mercuryโ€™s lifeโ€”born Farouk Bulsara in Zanzibar, and raised in London by proper Zoroastrian immigrant parents.

Heโ€™s hauling baggage at Heathrow Airport when he talks his way into a neighborhood bar band whose lead singer has just quit. Guitarist Brian May (Gwilym Lee) and drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) give him a shot, and with the addition of bassist John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello), Queen is born. They have to sell Rogerโ€™s car to pay for making a demo, but they land a recording contract at EMI. The actorsโ€™ resemblances to the people they play are uncanny; vintage footage of the real-life Queen at the end looks like outtakes from the film.

The best scenes capture the band inventing itself from Mayโ€™s solid musical grounding and Mercuryโ€™s desire to do โ€œgrandโ€ things, and never repeat himself. The song โ€œBohemian Rhapsodyโ€ makes no sense as narrative. Nobody has a clue what itโ€™s about. Nobody cares. The operatic, six-minute, style-shifting epic is something we get, intuitively, on a visceral level. Which is how it was conceived, according to this moveโ€™s delicious montage of the band crafting together the songโ€™s diverse bitsโ€”on Mercuryโ€™s instinct alone. Their EMI producer hates it (thatโ€™s Mike Myers behind the shaggy wig, glasses, and Scottish burr). The critics are lukewarm. The fans adore it.

Revered now as an early LGBTQ champion, Mercuryโ€™s relationship with Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton), his onetime live-in fiancรฉe and lifelong friend, is central to the movie. (He wrote โ€œLove of my Lifeโ€ for her.) When he moves into his own mansion, he buys one for her nearby. They remain close for the rest of his life, despite interference from Freddieโ€™s parasitic lover, Paul Prenter (Allen Leech). Mercuryโ€™s own bisexual experiments, shyly curious at first, blossom into gleeful self-discovery to match his flamboyant stage persona and outrageous costumes.

The movie celebrates the appeal of Queen not to gay, straight, or neutral audiences, nor fans of any particular genre, but as โ€œmisfits playing to other misfits.โ€ How inclusive can you get? โ€œWe Are the Championsโ€ is an equal-opportunity anthem. No wonder this movie zoomed to the top of the box office its first weekend!

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

***1/2 (out of four)

With Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee and Ben Hardy.ย Written by Anthony McCarten. Directed by Bryan Singer. A 20th Century Fox release. Rated PG-13. 134 minutes.

A Return Journeyโ€”Mercury retrograde: Risaโ€™s Starโ€™s Nov. 14-20

As Venus becomes stationary direct, Friday (Nov. 16), Mercury becomes stationary retrograde. An interesting intersection of planetary movements. Although soon in direct motion, Venus will remain in her retrograde shadow until Dec. 18.ย With Venus slowlyย movingย forward, our newly assessed values and how to use resources more effectively become apparent. We are careful and observant of these things.ย 

And so, as one planet ends its retrograde motion, another begins. Mercury (wing-footed Hermes) retrograde (13 degrees Sag – 27 degrees Scorpio) is retrograde until Dec. 6 at the new moon. Mercury retrogradeโ€”rediscovering, sorting through and assessing the past, eliminating what is no longer useful, keeping what is. Mercury retro in Sag, then Scorpio. We all know the rules of Mercury retrograde. We refrain from initiating new projects, or buying large items (cars, homes, appliances, things of great value).

We are careful with communication, thinking, speaking, driving, etc. We check and recheck the fine print. We ponder upon our words before we speak. We are compassionate with others as they speak. Everyoneโ€™s mental apparatus is upside down, inside out, sideways. Except those born in Mercury retrograde.

With Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius, we are careful while traveling. We may end up in places we least expect. We are careful while communicating with the law, with lawyers and professors. Mercury retro is a time of productivity. We clean out, review, update, confirm, revise, catch up, reconnect and become aware of deep revelatory insights. We are flexible and adaptable and sometimes think backwards. We research and reflect. We rethink, rework, re-envision, rearrange and rekindle.

We slow down, enter into a sort of retreat. We consider Mercury retro as a time to hide away, creating a sanctuary and a refuge from the world. We slow down.

ARIES: Those working with you seek your direction and mentorship. Youโ€™re the courage, bravery and light needed that โ€œlights their way.โ€ This is not a compliment. Itโ€™s a responsibility of leadership coupled with love. Itโ€™s important to maintain health, exercise and a simple diet. Possibly you need more calcium/magnesium for calmness. With all relationships, be kind.

TAURUS: The work and responsibilities continue to arrive. You tend to everything needed, forging ahead with Vulcanโ€™s (Soul ruler) help. Vulcan fashions gold out of iron (Soul/personality), creates a forward momentum, allows for optimism (a little), drives you toward future goals. On your mind, always, is how to create and sustain community. It takes more than a village. Tend to your health carefully. Rest every other day.

GEMINI: Home matters more and more. Where you live, with whom, and how to create an environment that supports health and well-being. Simultaneously you must nourish your curious and dual mind. Movement forward is always an issue. Continue to care for yourself and others nearby with compassion and humor. You are to serve with a wise heart. Venus, your companion, surrounds you with a pale orange light.

CANCER: Home and family become increasingly filled with responsibilities and work. You try to carry on family traditions. However, so many tasks interfere. Restrict how much work youโ€™re doing for others or exhaustion ensues. An acupuncture treatment is most likely needed and chiropractic, too. Youโ€™re the one at home needing tender loving care. Rest a while.

LEO: Are you finding yourself creating deeper relationships with others? Leos often tend only to themselves and this creates loneliness. Wherever thereโ€™s an imbalance, ask questions, listen, assess, speak from the heart and forgive. Saturn, Dweller on the Threshold of new ways of being, asks you to review past beliefs before new foundational realities can form. Share resources and values. Tend to your favorite kingdom.

VIRGO: In daily life, have the intention to focus on facts not fictions, fantasies, or wishful thinking. Facts are the foundation of a clear thinker and later, a good leader. Facts help uplift emotional disturbances, disappointments and confusing changes. Venus asks that you continue to consider what is of value to you and provides both emotional and intellectual inspiration. Listen for the still small voice of God, the Soul within.

LIBRA: You seek a sense of belonging. Your talents and gifts have created a life filled with much abundance. Perhaps you now seek spiritual intuition. You wonder how all the work needed in your life can have less stress and limitation. You know youโ€™re here to serve. You change your appearance with confidence. Youโ€™re more harmonious. Youโ€™re a bit mysterious, too. Careful with exercise. Careful with bones and ligaments. Careful driving.

SCORPIO: Notice your concern with how others (groups) see and assess you. Notice a change of values occurring, too. Itโ€™s an excellent time to contact old friends; assess business opportunities, re-enter groups and review social media. Thereโ€™s a community or group needing your research abilities. Your self-identity shifts all about. This will continue until it stabilizes. Maintain composure, balance, faith.

SAGITTARIUS: Work should be good and fruitful. You know youโ€™re well-liked, however, you possibly feel restricted, constrained and controlled by situations not quite in your control. It will be important to make yourself more productive, creating harmony at all levels of work. Banish any thoughts of limitation, create a positive, light-filled aura. The outcome will be more than expected. Work on the honor system. Your honor.

CAPRICORN: Contact those far away who love and care for you. Your communication creates harmony and happiness. As your mind ponders future goals, include religious as well as physical, emotional and intellectual considerations. Spirituality and religion sustain us, for they touch energies greater than ourselves. Prayer stabilizes us. As you continue to transform, recite the Soul and Great Invocations daily and with family.

AQUARIUS: Careful with money in terms of the future. It may slip through your hands easily. Assess how you are living and if itโ€™s sustainable for you. Consider other futuristic ways of living. Allow no limitations of thought. Discuss with others how the present world situation affects how and where you live. Share with everyone what you value and need. Daily routines are changed. Your vitality (life force) is intact. Pray to the devas. Theyโ€™re your friends.

PISCES: Sometimes we are walking a razorโ€™s edge precipice, remembering yesterday, not seeing tomorrow. Itโ€™s good to summon faith that there is indeed a Path ahead even if itโ€™s invisible. There will be a moving forward soon (after years of unknowing). The forests will become the trees of opportunity. Do whatโ€™s necessary to create and build community. Ask humanity to help. Draw up a wish list and work on it each day. Everythingโ€™s possible. Everything comes to us that we ask for. In time and space.

Catch This Cab Franc From DeVincenzi Cellars

I was spending the night at a friendโ€™s house after her surgery, only to find out she was out of wineโ€”so ย I dashed over to Deer Park Wine & Spirits to get a bottle to enjoy with some split pea soup sheโ€™d made ahead of time for dinner.

I found just the thing to pair with the hearty soup and crusty breadโ€”a reasonably priced DeVincenzi Cellars Cabernet Franc for about $20. Itโ€™s a good buy for a well-made wineโ€”and after a long day spent in the hospitalโ€™s waiting room, a glass of Cab Franc never tasted so good.

DeVincenzi Cellars is a small family-owned winery located in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Winemaker Frank Virgil has infused a touch of passion into his 2014 Cabernet Franc along with a subtle licorice and violet nose and a full-bodied cherry-brandy oak finish. Try it with a big juicy steak.

DeVincenzi Cellars, 24572 Hutchinson Road, Los Gatos, 831-334-6083. devindenzicellars.com.

Equinox Library Wine Party

Equinox Wines will be throwing a party to share a selection of limited-edition, exquisitely aged Equinox and Bartolo wines. These cellared-to-perfection reds and sparklings will be introduced by winemaker Barry Jackson and complemented by a carefully curated snack. All the wines are ready to drink and share with friends, and each would bring something special to your holiday table. The event is 7-9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13 and tickets are $50 ($25 for wine club members).

Equinox Sparkling Wine & Bartolo Reds, 334C Ingalls St., Santa Cruz, 471-5608. equinoxwine.com.

Sip and Sail on a Wine Cruise

Setting out to sea with one of your favorite wineries on board is an all-time top-notch pleasure.

Here are two wineriesโ€”both with longtime customers and wine club membersโ€”who you can sign up to sail with. Burrell School is set for a Taste of Bordeaux trip to France in November; and Big Basin Vineyards will cruise through the Rhone Valley in April 2019. It goes without saying that youโ€™ll be served superb food and wine.

For more info visit the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association website at scmwa.com.

 

This Veterans Day, Pro-Peace Vets Remember Armistice Day

On Nov. 11, an impassioned group of local veterans will be marching 17.7 miles from Watsonville to Santa Cruz to bring awareness to the issue of veteran suicide.

Bells will toll and bagpipes will play at 11:11 a.m., welcoming the two dozen vets making the long trek to the clock tower in downtown Santa Cruz, and kicking off 2018โ€™s Veterans Day Remembrance and Armistice Day Celebration in Santa Cruz.

โ€œThe walkers will highlight the epidemic of suicide that exists in the veteran community,โ€ says Tatanka Bricca, event coordinator and human rights advocate. โ€œVeterans live with the guilt of war, and more of our soldiers die from suicide than actual combat.โ€

When the large, ornate bell, crafted out of a canister shell from the Vietnam War, stops ringing at 11:12, a remembrance ceremony will be held for all veterans. The bell is symbolicโ€”in the spirit of turning swords to plowsharesโ€”and is representative of the theme of this yearโ€™s festivities: peace.

โ€œWe need to remember thereโ€™s a large group of veterans returning from war who are very passionate about peace. We want to celebrate them both,โ€ says Bricca. โ€œWe need to celebrate the end of warโ€”where we wonโ€™t need war to solve our problems.โ€

After the ringing of the bells, the celebration will move across the street to the Veterans Memorial Building for the โ€œAfternoon Community Symposium on Creating Peace,โ€ packed with speakers, panel discussions, food, music and more. It will be the culmination of the work Veterans for Peace, Armistice 100 SC and a host of other organizations have done over the last year.

For this yearโ€™s celebration, local vets have decided to resurrect and reclaim the original Nov. 11 title of Armistice Day: โ€œA Day of Peace.โ€ Leaders in the veteran community feel itโ€™s possibleโ€”and appropriateโ€”to celebrate Veterans Day and the lesser-known Armistice Day at the same time.

One hundred years ago, Nov. 11 was a day of celebration. On the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of 1918, World War I finally ended. Decades before Veterans Day became an official national holiday in 1954, Nov. 11 was a day to celebrate that peace and to rejoice in the end of war. It was called Armistice Day.

Armistice Dayโ€™s plea for peace in this complicated and chaotic world exists as a reminder that the last hundred years have been anything but peaceful.

โ€œUltimately, I hope I am one of the last humans to be called a veteran,โ€ says Paul Damon, a veteran and founder of Holistic Veterans. โ€œIf this title does not exist, then we have found peace amongst all human beings.โ€

Opinion: November 7, 2018

EDITOR’S NOTE

One of the things we like to do is follow some of the notable graduates who come out of UCSC. But I have to say that this is maybe the strangest story of that type that weโ€™ve ever run. Itโ€™s certainly the most unexpected.

Thatโ€™s not just because Charles Harder went on to be Donald Trumpโ€™s personal lawyer and represent a number of famous conservative figures. Sure, thereโ€™s a certain amount of irony there already, as Trump is one of the most passionately hated figures at UCSC, and in Santa Cruz in general. But itโ€™s not like there are no Republicans in Santa Cruz, or conservative graduates from UCSCโ€”of course, there are plenty of both.

What makes Harderโ€™s story so intriguing is that he was very active in progressive causes while he was at UCSC, and that he doesnโ€™t really seem to disavow them now. I donโ€™t want to spoil too much of Jacob Pierceโ€™s fascinating cover story, but I will say I think he did a fantastic job of reporting in itโ€”both in his interviews with Harder, and in how he tracked down people who knew and worked with him while he was in Santa Cruz. Itโ€™s a complex and often surprising profile, and the kind of story that will draw a wide range of reactions from readers, Iโ€™m sure. Enjoy!

STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Read the latest letters to the editor here.

We Are Not Alone

Re: โ€œCloser to Encountersโ€: Great article on Frank Drake (GT, 10/31). I would like to add that we are โ€œcloser to encounters.โ€

There is another interesting organization, ECETI (Enlightened Contact with Extraterrestrial Intelligence) in Mt. Adams, Washington, studying the skies. ECETI was founded by James Gililland over 30 years ago, and has more footage and documentation of flying craft than anyone on the planet. It is quite impressive.

Mt. Adams is sacred Yakima Indian land, with hundreds of flying craft sightings recorded in their history. ECETI has attracted people from all over the world, including Boeing engineers, astrophysicists, and NASA scientists to witness the overwhelming evidence that Drakeโ€™s Equation is correct. We are not alone!

I personally have had several mind-blowing experiences at ECETI that are, quite frankly, out of this world. Great news that Mr. Drake and SETI can continue this important study in solving mankindโ€™s greatest mystery. I believe!

Fiona Fairchild
Santa Barbara

Donโ€™t Be Fooled

Re: โ€œUp in Smokeโ€ (GT, 10/3): Santa Cruz can do something about the single most preventable cause of death in Californiaโ€”tobacco use. The city should join San Francisco and two dozen other cities and counties in California in restricting the sale of flavored tobacco products. Menthol and candy-flavored tobacco products are a key part of the tobacco industryโ€™s strategy to bait new users, especially youth, into becoming tomorrowโ€™s addicts.

Ending the sale of these flavored tobacco products is an issue of both health and social justice. Young people who use flavored tobacco products, including menthol, are often African American, Asian American, LGBTQ and from low-income communities already significantly impacted by tobacco-related disease. All the while, local taxpayers continue to foot the bill for tobacco-related illnesses.

According to a government study, 81 percent of kids who have tried tobacco started with a flavored product. The American Cancer Society (ACS) says while e-cigarettes may be less harmful than smoking cigarettes, the health effects of long-term use are not known. Donโ€™t let anyone tell you e-cigarettes are not tobacco products, either. The nicotine found in e-cigarettes is derived from tobacco. FDA regulates e-cigarettes as tobacco products.

ACS also recommends FDA-approved cessation treatment as the preferred means to quit smoking and ACS states every effort should be made to prevent youth from using e-cigarettes. The use of products containing nicotine in any form among youth is unsafe and can harm brain development.

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the advocacy affiliate of ACS, recently supported San Francisco as it enacted the most comprehensive flavored tobacco sales restrictions in the country after a lengthy and brutal battle against Big Tobacco, which poured nearly $12 million into fighting the historic new law.

Put public health above business profits and put flavored tobacco sales restrictions in placeโ€”for our kids and for our future!

Jim Knoxย โ€จ| American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network

Re: New WAMM Garden

My heart rejoices at this news my beloved Valerie and my beloved family at WAMM, I am so happy that this has come about. We have persevered. Well done. And to the benevolent providers of this gift I will be eternally grateful. I think of my friends my beloveds who have gone before the hard work of so many.

In our garden, the sign โ€œlove grows hereโ€โ€”no truer words are spoken. A true gift of love is just working in the garden, having the camaraderie and the support in a non-judgmental environment helps ease suffering. Those who can providing for those who can not. Nature heals, love heals, our life-saving natural plant medicine heals. Blessings.

โ€” Diana Dodson


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GOOD IDEA

Aptos locals will soon get a chance to reimagine their hub for reading, learning and gathering as a community. Santa Cruz Public Libraries and the county of Santa Cruz have invited members of the public to join in a series of meetings to help plan renovations to the Aptos Branch Library. The first is from 7-8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13, at the Aptos Libraryโ€จ, located at 7695 Soquel Drive. The second meeting, which will also be at the library, is on Tuesday, Dec. 11, from 7-8 p.m.


GOOD WORK

The Santa Cruz Warriorsโ€™ season is now underway (see page 14), and the team has announced an agreement to broadcast all 24 regular season home games for the 2018-19 season on television. The games will air on NBC Sports Bay Area, already the television home of the back-to-back NBA champion Golden State Warriors. Twelve of Santa Cruzโ€™s home games can also be seen on NBC Sports Bay Areaโ€™s new MyTeams app, which can be downloaded for free.


QUOTE OF THE WEEK

โ€œIf there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers.โ€

-Charles Dickens

Soif Releases Thanksgiving Six-Pack of Wine Curated to Pair

soif
Wine pairing for holiday appetizers through desert, plus the quest for the best local pumpkin pie continued

Majesty: A New Queer Dance Party and Drag Show at Motion Pacific

Majesty Motion Pacific
New bi-monthly drag show adds important LGBTQ+ space in Santa Cruz

Sitar Master Ashwin Batish at UCSC

Ashwin Batish
A unique blend of Eastern music and Western rock-star panache

Protest Planned as City Shutters Homeless Camp, Fences Parks

San Lorenzo homeless
Protest, public sleepout planned for Nov. 15.

Rob Breznyโ€™s Astrology Nov. 14-20

Astrology, Horoscope, Stars, Zodiac Signs
Free will astrology for the week of Nov. 14, 2018

Film Review: Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody
Great songs, star performance ignite โ€˜Bohemian Rhapsodyโ€™

A Return Journeyโ€”Mercury retrograde: Risaโ€™s Starโ€™s Nov. 14-20

risa's stars
Esoteric Astrology as news for the week of Nov. 14.

Catch This Cab Franc From DeVincenzi Cellars

DeVincenzi Cellars
Big finish, great price for Cabernet Franc 2014

This Veterans Day, Pro-Peace Vets Remember Armistice Day

veterans flag
March from Watsonville to Santa Cruz will highlight veteran mental health

Opinion: November 7, 2018

melania trump
Plus letters to the editor
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